IT was a day of red flags and barrier repairs at Castle Combe’s Whitsun Race Day on Monday, with Bradford on Avon’s David Vivian claiming the Driver of the Day Award after two impressive class wins in the Formula Ford 1600 races.

A number of double-header rounds were held across the two-day event, following the cancellation of Howard’s Day in March, with a plethora of cars competing in the fourteen races.

In the first of the day’s two Formula Ford 1600 races, Nathan Ward started on pole ahead of Michael Moyers, Bratton’s Ben Norton and Chippenham’s Luke Cooper.

But almost as soon as the race started the red flag was shown after American driver Chase Owen, who qualified eighth and was taking part in his first race at Castle Combe, collided with the barrier on the way up Avon Rise.

At the restart Moyers took the lead and led from Ward, reigning champion Roger Orgee and Norton.

By lap three, Orgee had made his way up to second and began to gap Ward who fell into the clutches of Norton.

A problem with the rear wishbone saw Norton drop down the order following two spins though as Moyers took the win from Orgee by 0.175.

Cooper finished third on the road but was demoted a place after a yellow flag infringement, promoting Ward on to the final step of the podium.

Vivian claimed the Class B win and sixth overall, with Richard Higgins seventh, Melksham’s Ed Moore eighth, Chippenham’s Adam Higgins ninth and Norton tenth.

In the second Formula Ford race, the red flag was once again shown moments after the start when Richard Higgins and Andrew Higginbottom went off along Avon Rise.

At the restart, Ward - starting from pole - drove a textbook race to claim his first race win of the season by 1.667 seconds.

Behind there was an exciting battle between Norton, Orgee and Moyers with the trio finishing in that order less than four-tenths of a second apart.

Vivian once again took Class B honours after finishing sixth, less than nine seconds behind the race winner.

Speaking after the race, he said: “It’s always hard to keep Class A cars behind but I held my place and it was good fun.

“The moment I’ll remember is going around the outside of Adam Higgins at Tower.”

In the day’s only Saloon race, Dave Scaramanga took the win from pole-position but only after withstanding immense pressure from Melksham-based Simon Norris in his Mitsubishi Colt.

Starting from fourth on the grid, Norris jumped up to third by the end of the opening lap before making his way up to second, past Charles Hyde-Andrews-Bird, at the end of lap four.

After that Scaramanga and Norris were never more than metres apart as they battled through slower traffic, crossing the finish-line just 0.879 seconds apart.

Reigning champion Mark Wyatt took third with Chippenham’s William Di Claudio taking Class D honours after finishing 17th.

Elsewhere, triple BTCC Champion Matt Neal and his son, Will, took victory in the Dave Allan Trophy driving a Honda Jazz after the race was red-flagged after Neal Snr’s second son, Henry, crashed along Avon Rise.

“We didn’t expect to win it, we just kept our noses down because it was quite busy out there,” said Neal Snr.

“I like Castle Combe, it’s a nice flowing circuit, you have the chicanes but you need that because it was very fast back in the day.”